


Little Guy

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Mentor/Protégé, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 09:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14517486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “I just wanted to be like you.”“And I wanted you to be better.”For Tony, it comes back to Charlie Spencer, that teenage piece of collateral damage from their dressing up in glorified pajamas and playing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.Tony, Peter, and geneses.(No Infinity War spoilers)





	Little Guy

When asked, as he will be after the fact, how he could recruit a _kid_ for-christ’s-sake, Tony will answer something about Charlie Spencer, about wanting Steve—and the others if it came to it—to have to look a child in the eyes and fight him, to have to face up to what they’re doing, to literalize the idea that they’re putting children in harm’s way with their supposed heroics. And Peter—with his high-pitched voice and the bouncy enthusiasm of a golden retriever puppy—served well to make his point. 

It’s a good argument, he admits. Convincing, and more rational and well thought-out than, until recently, anyone was used to hearing from him.

It’s also BS.

Well, it’s not _total_ BS. It _does_ come back to Charlie Spencer, that teenage piece of collateral damage from their dressing up in glorified pajamas and playing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Or, more accurately, the only one of the presumably thousands of pieces of human collateral damage for which Tony has a face and a name. For _weeks_ after Spencer’s bereaved mother confronts him, he dreams of Charlie’s final moments—crushed under that Sokovian building—and wakes up gasping.

 _You think you fight for us?_ he hears between raspy breaths. _You just fight for yourself. Who’s going to Avenge my son, Stark? He’s dead. And I blame you._

* * *

When he sees the YouTube footage of the so-called “Spider-Man,” with a scrappy homemade suit, and tracks him down to discover a fourteen-year-old kid from Queens, Tony’s gut lurches.

( _In the eight-and-a-half years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially,_ Vision had said. _I’m saying there may be a causality_.)

( _He’s dead,_ Miriam Spencer had said. _And I blame you._ )

( _Throw a little hot-rod red in there,_ Tony had said to JARVIS eight years ago—when the kid must have been six years old.)

( _Throw a little hot-rod red in there,_ he imagines the kid repeating, pretending he’s Iron Man as he sews his flimsy red tracksuit—the only armor he has to fight crime.)

( _He’s dead. And I blame you._ )

Kid’s gonna need some guidance, he decides. And a better suit.

* * *

“I just wanted to be like you,” Peter pleads, after he and a thousand other people almost find a watery grave in the Hudson, because the kid was hellbent on catching criminals with an obsessive fervor that’s all too familiar.

( _You think you fight for us? You just fight for yourself._ )

( _He’s dead. And I blame you._ )

 _You want to be like me, kid?_ he thinks. _You know how many people have died, how many lives have been ruined, because I was too concerned with personal vendettas and the big picture to think about individual civilians?_

( _What if someone had died? Different story right? Because now that’s on you._ )

( _I feel like that’s on me._ ) 

“And I wanted you to be better.”

* * *

_After_ , once Happy explains and Tony combs through every security camera and drone in the city to ascertain that the kid is safe, he finds the footage. Peter—in nothing but his old tracksuit, because Tony had taken his armor away—screaming and trapped under a building.

(They had crushed Charlie Spencer under a building.)

( _He’s dead. And I blame you._ )

( _And if you die, I feel like that’s on me._ )

He vomits.

When he finally allows himself to sleep, he dreams of Charlie and Peter both crushed in Sokovia, and jerks awake, gasping.

* * *

“...So when you’re ready, why don’t you try that on, and I’ll introduce the world to the newest official member of the Avengers: Spider-Man.”

The kid stammers, eyes wide, then his features settle into a relaxed determination. “Thank you, Mr. Stark. But I’m good.”

“You’re good? How are you good?”

“I mean...I’d rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Somebody’s gotta look after the little guy, right?”

( _You think you fight for us? You just fight for yourself. Who’s going to Avenge my son, Stark?_ )

 _I’ve got just the guy,_ Tony thinks, prouder than he’s ever been.

* * *

When he calls Peter, a week later, to invite him up to the Compound to train, the kid stammers. “I...But, Mr. Stark, I appreciate it and all, but I’m still not ready to be an Avenger…”

“I know that, kid. But a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man could still use some mentoring from a Jaded Global Billionaire Superhero, don’t ya think?”

“I—yeah! Thank you so much, Mr. Stark!”

“Don’t sweat it, Parker. Besides,” he adds. “I want to hear about fighting for the little guy.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the balm on my heart after Infinity War.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I love comments!


End file.
